Following on from my last input, I am glad to say the Prostate Cancer seems to be under control (the word remission is not now used), my last PSA test came back as 0.8 (up from 0.5 six months ago but still incredibly low – it was 29 when I was diagnosed in 2013). I am not taking any Cancer medication and my only regular pills are those to stop me getting up to pee in the night.

So far so good!

Apart from my knackered knees (much more below) and my Diverticulitis which hospitalised me some 20 years ago (no reoccurrence – change of diet?),I am in good health and am still going to the gym twice a week to keep the body functioning!

So back to the knees, I have always known about my right knee being very arthritic but until recently I have put up with the occasional pain and it certainly never stopped me cycling either in the gym or the outings with my gym pals when we regularly cycled around 30 miles with no ill-effects apart from my nether regions.

BUT almost about the time we were in the process of moving earlier this year my left knee gave up on me! I was unable to walk, drive a manual car (fortunately my car is automatic) so I was totally useless when it came to the practicalities of house-moving. I became a regular visitor to the Doctor who prescribed me with ever stronger pain killers to no real effect other than temporary relief. I had a steroid injection into the knee – very painful in itself which lasted all of 2 days (it should have lasted around 3 months) so I was becoming desperate, meanwhile I had the vision of Myni running the move single-handed – very upsetting.

My own Doctor was running out of ideas so a suggestion of an MRI scan came up. I did however manage to get an X-ray done in Falmouth which showed the complete lack of cartilage and following this a request was put forward to Treliske (the main NHS Hospital in Truro) but of course I was informed that a scan was not allowed till I had seen a specialist there – I would have had to wait for about six weeks to get an appointment and then had to wait to get a scan (if deemed necessary). To try and speed things up we decided to go private and spend £450.00 on an MRI scan at the Duchy – this was of course available within days (same machine, same specialists just pound notes) and enabled me to go armed with this scan to Toby, Myni’s Godson, who just happens to be an Orthopedic Surgeon, at the private Clinic in Basingstoke.

Fortunately, Toby agreed me ‘mate’s rates’ for the consultation, gave me the once over and after looking at the scans could only suggest a complete knee replacement and wrote a letter to that affect to my Doctor. However, no one could explain the catastrophic failure of this left knee, remember the right knee was always (and still is) a problem but I put up with it.

So back to the Doctor, more pain killers and no progress!

Toby had put me in touch with a colleague in India (who was a knee specialist) because at this stage I could see the only way forward was to have surgery. We had enquired about the cost of this private operation at the Duchy Clinic and was horrified to find it was about £12,000 but they did provide interest free finance for 6 months! I could have the same operation done in India for about £3,000 – but of course by the time you factored in the cost of travel, accommodation and the possibility of something going wrong it doesn’t seem so (financially) attractive.

The NHS specialists in Cornwall in their wisdom would not accept Toby’s diagnosis letter (sent to my Doctors) to try and shorten the wait I was then able to see a specialist at the Duchy Clinic at a cost of £150.00 who with the MRI and X-ray scans in place was able to try to find out what was going on.

The Orthopedic Surgeon prodded, poked and stretched me quite severely trying to get a reaction and decided that arthritis was not the cause of my intense pain – he diagnosed a Bakers Cyst which effectively locks the knee so it is not able to bend. At this point I would suggest a Google search because it explains the condition very well and also would explain the catastrophic failure of this knee. A period of physio was recommended (private of course) and she spent the next six weeks unlocking the knee. To date the pain is still there but at least I am able to function once more – I will eventually have to have both knees replaced but hopefully via the NHS!

Unfortunately, the whole sorry saga demonstrates the state of the NHS, had it not been possible for us to pay for private treatment I am not sure what I would have done as my NHS Doctors could do no more and were hampered by the bureaucracy. I can also state by this time the attitude of one of the Doctors was appalling almost to the point of saying “well what do you expect us to do – we’ve done all we can!